Ginger’s Café is the new home of the Hamilton County Basketball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was previously displayed at Jim Dandy for 18 years before the longtime Noblesville restaurant closed last year. Hall of Fame committee member Dave Nicholson is pictured with the plaques. (Quinn Matthews)
Hamilton County Basketball Hall of Fame finds a new home
By QUINN MATTHEWS
The Hamilton County Basketball Hall of Fame has found a new home at Ginger’s Café, 1111 S. 10th St., Noblesville.
The Hall of Fame, which features 92 plaques honoring standout players, coaches, and contributors was previously displayed at Jim Dandy for 18 years before the longtime Noblesville restaurant closed last year. Its closure left many in the community wondering what would happen to the longstanding collection.
(Quinn Matthews)
“When Jim Dandy announced they were closing, people were going in and trying to take the plaques,” said member of the Hall of Fame committee Dave Nicholson. “I have had several calls since January saying, ‘where did the plaques go?”
The collection was displaced for a year as the committee searched for a new home that felt just as welcoming; a comfortable place where people can gather and reconnect Hamilton County’s history of great basketball.
“We talked to maybe six or seven places and they either didn’t have enough room or a visible space,” said Nicholson. “Then I talked to Mikki and she was really excited about it, so that’s how we ended up here.”
Mikki Perrine, the owner of Ginger’s Café and a longtime Noblesville resident, is thrilled to house the plaques that she admires, and has admired, for a long time. Her immediate enthusiasm made it clear that the collection had finally found a home where its significance would be understood and appreciated.
“I had gone to Jim Dandy for years and years since I was little, and I remember seeing it there. I know a lot of the people in the Hall of Fame, and it just seemed fitting that since I’m a local girl that it should come here,” said Perrine.
The Hamilton County Basketball Hall of Fame was established in 2003 with the goal of honoring deserving players and coaches who gave so much to their programs and communities.
“Janus development got this idea to have a banquet and honor a ‘Hall of Fame’. They didn’t have any guidelines, they didn’t have applications, they just picked people,” said Nicholson. “The first class was super. They had two Mr. Basketball winners and people that were very deserving, but people didn’t want to pay 60 bucks to go to a banquet.”
Over the past 22 years, the organization has refined its mission and raised its standards for induction. When legendary Hamilton County sports writer Don Jellison took over, they shifted away from banquets and instead began distributing plaques to the high schools where the players and coaches once competed or served, ensuring the recognition would reach the communities most connected to each honoree.
“We’ve got a committee of seven people spread all over the county and they do a good job. We’ve got an awful lot of good players, but we decided just a few years ago that we want the very best,” said Nicholson. “We’ve got five people up there that have played for the NBA, and they all came back for the induction.”
By honoring these players and coaches, the plaques tell a story across generations – from local gymnasiums to the highest levels of basketball. Each induction reconnects the community with moments and figures that shaped Hamilton County’s basketball legacy.
“I think it’s important that people see these. You would be surprised when people come in and look at those they would say, ‘I remember when that person played.”
Now displayed at Ginger’s Café, the Hall of Fame once again offers the community a place to remember, reflect and celebrate a tradition deeply rooted in Indiana basketball culture.
